NCLEX Cheat Sheet: Memorization Tables and Fast-Recall Tips

How to Use This NCLEX Cheat Sheet (Step-by-Step Recall Method)

A cheat sheet is a rehearsal tool, not a reading tool. The method below converts recognition ("I've seen that before") into recall ("I can produce it from memory"), which is the only form of memory the NCLEX actually tests.

1. 1Pick ONE table below and read it slowly once, out loud. Do not attempt more than one table per session.
2. 2Cover the table. On blank paper, write everything you remember. Expect to get 40–60% on the first attempt — that is normal and productive.
3. 3Uncover and mark what you missed in a different colour. Only the missed items get re-read.
4. 4Wait 20 minutes, then reproduce the table again from memory. This spaced second attempt is where long-term retention is built.
5. 5Immediately answer 10–15 practice questions in that topic so the facts are stored in a clinical context, not as trivia.
6. 6Re-test the same table 24 hours later, then 3 days later, then 7 days later. Three spaced repetitions is usually enough to hold a table for exam day.
7. 7In the final week, practise your full 'brain dump': all six core tables written from memory in under 5 minutes.

Vital Signs and Normal Values You Must Know Cold

Vital sign questions rarely ask for the number itself. They give you the number and ask what you do about it. Knowing the boundary values instantly is what frees your working memory to reason about the intervention.

Drug Class Suffixes — The Fastest Pharmacology Shortcut

Pharmacology is the content area candidates most often name as their weakest, yet a large share of drug questions can be reasoned out from the generic-name ending alone. Learn the suffix, the class, and the single nursing priority attached to it.

Patient Positioning Table

Positioning items are pure recall and appear on almost every exam form. They are the cheapest points on the NCLEX — memorize them once and they are yours.

Isolation Precautions — MRS WEE and SPIDERMAN

Infection-control items are guaranteed points if you memorize the two classic mnemonics. Standard precautions apply to every patient; the tables below are what you add.

• •Airborne (N95 + negative-pressure room) — MTV: Measles, TB, Varicella (also disseminated zoster, COVID-19 aerosol procedures)
• •Droplet (surgical mask, private room, door may stay open) — SPIDERMAN: Sepsis/Scarlet fever, Pertussis, Influenza, Diphtheria, Epiglottitis, Rubella, Mumps, Meningitis, Adenovirus, Pneumonia
• •Contact (gown + gloves) — MRS WEE: MRSA, RSV, Skin infections, Wound infections, Enteric (C. difficile — soap and water, not alcohol gel), Eye infections
• •Protective/neutropenic — no fresh flowers, no raw fruit or vegetables, no visitors with infection, private room with positive-pressure airflow

Delegation and Prioritization Cheat Card

Management of Care questions are decided by two rules: who can legally do the task, and which patient is least stable. Memorize the delegation grid, then apply the priority frameworks in order.

• •Priority order: ABCs → Airway before Breathing before Circulation, then disability/safety
• •Maslow: physiological needs before safety, safety before psychosocial
• •Acute and unexpected beats chronic and expected
• •Assessment before intervention — unless the airway is compromised, then act
• •Least invasive intervention first; 'call the provider' is almost never the first nursing action

The Two-Minute Brain Dump Strategy

You are given an erasable whiteboard at the Pearson VUE test centre. Before you answer question one, reproduce the tables you rehearsed: lab values, vital sign boundaries, drug suffixes, positioning, precautions, and the delegation grid. This does two things. First, it externalizes your memory so that working memory is free for reasoning. Second, it converts anxiety into a familiar, rehearsed motor task, which measurably lowers physiological arousal in the opening minutes of the exam.

Practise the dump in full at least five times in your final week, timed. If it takes longer than five minutes, cut the sheet down — a cheat sheet you cannot reproduce is a cheat sheet you do not know.